RANCHO CUCAMONGA – An outpouring of support has grown online for teenager Matt Lipp, who has been in a coma for a week after suffering a seizure earlier this month.

Lipp, who had no prior major medical issues, suffered the seizure on Jan. 4 at the home of a friend, Michael Dean, and was immediately transported to an area hospital.

Lipp then suffered a seizure every day since his ordeal began until Tuesday night. Dean visited Lipp at the intensive care unit of Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“He was doing really good,” said Dean, a freshman at Chaffey High School. “He was sleeping perfect.”

Audrey Conte, a sophomore at Alta Loma High School, said Lipp’s friends didn’t initially think the condition was serious, until they heard Lipp was in a coma.

“It was rough at first,” Conte said.

“It was hard to eat and sleep. It’s gotten easier.”

Lipp’s story has spread throughout the region in recent weeks thanks to social media.

A group of Lipp’s friends – Conte, Dean, Emily Danna and others – started using the hashtags #Lippstrong and #PrayforMatt on Twitter.

Since then, a multitude of well-wishers have left messages of support on Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter.

“It was just between us, and then one or two days after, it just broke out,” Dean said.

Chaffey Joint Union High School District students have also posted messages and posters of support.

“We were just non-stop tweeting about it because we were so heartbroken,” Danna said.

Lipp’s older brother Joey said the doctors suspect Matt Lipp suffered autoimmune encephalitis and tests are still being conducted.

“We don’t know what triggered it,” Joey Lipp said.

“The doctors really have no idea and they’re guessing it could have started with the cold or the flu, or a sinus infection. They wanted to check to see if there are any tumors and they don’t think it was a tumor. They really have no idea at this point.”

Joey Lipp said the family is extremely grateful for the support. The family spends every night at the hospital gaining strength from the messages on social media.

“It’s been amazing,” Joey Lipp said.

“Every night our family gets together and we go through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and look at everything everybody’s been writing. It’s one of those things that keeps us hopeful and strong, because we’ve had so many people who have cared.”

Many supporters, including the Rancho Cucamonga High School Cougars baseball team, have since visited Matt Lipp in the hospital. He played for the Cougars and has aspirations to attend the University of Hawaii on a baseball scholarship.

To support Lipp’s family, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewlipp

Chili’s is also hosting a fundraiser at locations in Rancho Cucamonga, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Diamond Bar and Corona, on Jan. 22 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers must bring a flyer provided by the support group, which can be found posted on @RanchoNow on Twitter.

Neil Nisperos has been a reporter covering everything from business to education, courts, politics, city government, features, arts and entertainment since 1999. On social media, he has a combined following of about 25,300 people over various apps and platforms. He's passionate about the cinema, science, philosophy, poetry, art, photography, culture, literature and history. He feels fortunate to be in the profession that keeps power in check, memorializes people's stories for posterity and helps people with useful information.